Today I tried crossfit for the first time and I loved it. I'd like to start doing it regularly but I've heard that it is dangerous... Is that true? Should I keep my gym routine if I start with crossfit? thanks!

I was taking crossfit classes a year ago. I had to give it up due to a shoulder injury. Probably a result of lifting too much weight with an imbalance from a previous poorly healed collar bone injury.

So do I think it is dangerous... Yes, there are tons of injuries in crossfit. But I think there are a lot of injuries in other sports too depending which sports you do. You have to decide if you like it enough, if the benefits outweigh the risks to you, and also be aware of how you can minimize your risk of injury. Because you will make zero progress once you are injured.

The above notwithstanding, I am planning to go back in the New Year because I love it that much. They have the best and most intense workouts I've ever done. Even after more than a year off though, I know I will need to go easy on the shoulder and be careful not to push it. (and it is hard not to push yourself in that environment).

Some boxes push you harder than others and some will have far better coaches than others, but in the end I think it is important for you to be aware of your limitations, play it safe rather than playing to win (ie. make sure you have your form down before increasing your weights), and know that you need to look after yourself.. you are the one that needs to live with the consequence of your actions. Be aware that the 'coaches' do not really get a whole lot of training... quite honestly the ones I've met are imo less knowledgeable on fitness than I am and definitely have less knowledge in nutrition. I would not put too much faith (or any really) in what they 'think' they know - ie. always do your own research before following blindly.

I would advise that you continue with your regular workouts to work on supporting muscles they are not hitting in crossfit classes. For example if you do a lot of shoulder presses and bench presses you will develop an imbalance of muscle in front vs back which often leads to injury.

If you do decide to get into it, there is a supportive group on facebook (crossfit vegans and vegetarians).

GL

_________________If it's important to you, you'll find a way. If it isn't, you'll find an excuse.

i think crossfit is fine aslong as your careful and still try to use good form on exercises. any fitness activity can be dangerous if done wrong.......if you enjoy it, do it and just be careful as you would doing any other weights exercise or sport merry xmas angiepole!

_________________"iam the strongest one! iam the viking!" - jon pall sigmarsson“may all of your dreams and ambitions happen, but most important, may all of your enemies die"www.infowars.com

I agree with MrBear. If you want to try something you should go for it! No sense in staying away from it just becasue you MIGHT get injured. Triathlon and cycling are pretty dangerous too but I'm glad I had a crack at them. Hope you are having a great Christmas!

I was wondering what happened to you. Congrats on going back to competing.

Jillian Michaels and a lot of fitness and nutrient talk shows on Sirius radio are totally against cross fit and paleo diet. However most would agree the crossfit community is positive in regards of motivating each other and building friendships.

A lot of the men love crossfit because it is competitive. I notice a lot of females will complain the coaches pushes them too hard in regards of heavy weights. It is very easy to get injured.

Crossfit is a fad. Another fad will replace crossfit in another couple years

I love it - like anything you need to check the credentials of the owner/coaches to make sure they have more experience than just the crossfit certification. My box has an Olypic lifting platform and a 5/3/1 methodology for the strength work - then we WOD. I started in different box where it was metcom WODs all the time and I tore up a shoulder doing that - since changing to the box I am in now where there is purposeful training I have rehabbed the injury and am full speed ahead. The crossfit community is a little suspicious of vegans but my coach now doesnt try to discourage me/talk me out of it - he looks for resources for me since he doesnt know much about how I eat.

I love it - like anything you need to check the credentials of the owner/coaches to make sure they have more experience than just the crossfit certification. My box has an Olypic lifting platform and a 5/3/1 methodology for the strength work - then we WOD. I started in different box where it was metcom WODs all the time and I tore up a shoulder doing that - since changing to the box I am in now where there is purposeful training I have rehabbed the injury and am full speed ahead. The crossfit community is a little suspicious of vegans but my coach now doesnt try to discourage me/talk me out of it - he looks for resources for me since he doesnt know much about how I eat.

Crossfit is like anything else - you get a lot of places that have shitty trainers who think "Let me throw in some gimmicky and potentially unsafe lifts from Strongman or some other training system and tell people it'll change their lives unlike any other program!" who should be strung up by their privates for jeopardizing the safety of their clients. You'll also get good, experienced coaches who know what they're doing - it's simply another case of "buyer beware" - just because someone's certified to teach something doesn't mean they're any good at it (this goes for all aspects of life, just that in training like Crossfit, it can mess you up royally in a hurry when under the guidance of an idiot). Do your research first, compare local facilities from feedback you'll get from past and current members, and of course, look for results. If a Crossfit coach has an entirely new client base every few months because people either keep getting hurt/get lackluster results/get bored with it, that's a bad sign, but if you see people who have made great transformations who keep coming back month after month, year after year, it's probably safe to assume that it's one of the better facilities you could go to. Just check out a facility thoroughly to avoid being caught in a mess of training under some dope who thinks that someone who has only touched a barbell once before should be doing heavy kettlebell complexes on their first day training.

There's nothing inherently wrong with Crossfit, but ultimately, you have to figure whether or not it is going to do what you want. Consider that the people you see on ESPN doing the Crossfit Games are NOT people who came into it as average folks, rather, you'll find that they almost all have extensive high-level athletic backgrounds in things like gymnastics, olympic lifting, etc. that gave them a great base for years prior to taking up Crossfit. Most people are going to get stronger to some degree (but, not as strong as those who simply lift for the sake of strength), will get in better overall conditioning (but not in the same ways as someone who trains for conditioning for a specific purpose, like endurance cycling), and obviously, when combined with a solid diet, it can do great improvements for one's body. But, Crossfit is a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none type program where you're pretty much trained to be ready to be able to tackle anything within reason for overall fitness, but if you're after a specific goal of being able to, say, bench press double your bodyweight, be able to run a marathon, or anything else that's specific to a goal, it won't be ideal for someone who is after something of that nature. For the average fitness fan who is looking for something new who may have avoided weight training in the past, it's a step in the right direction, and it never hurts to improve one's conditioning, either.

I don't see Crossfit going anywhere any time soon since it started decades ago and has had a few good years entrenched as something fun and marketable, but it's definitely saturated right now, and probably won't be as large in 5 years as it is today. What'll inevitably happen is that the hucksters who are in it just to make a quick buck off something popular will fade away over the next few years, and eventually it'll be down to a pool of those who actually SHOULD be training people in Crossfit, and that's not a bad thing by any means.

_________________"A 'hardgainer' is merely someone who hasn't bothered to try enough different training methods to learn what is actually right for their own damned body." - anonymous

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Bing [Bot] and 3 guests

You cannot post new topics in this forumYou cannot reply to topics in this forumYou cannot edit your posts in this forumYou cannot delete your posts in this forumYou cannot post attachments in this forum